There are numerous prior art devices which deal with the general idea of a golf club head with decorative characteristics. Typically, these "wood" or "driver" type golf clubs have been fashioned from various forms of wood. The heads of these golf clubs are constructed out of a solid piece of wood or wood laminae that is adhesively joined into a unitary body with or without an insert in the striking face of the golf club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,684 by Molitor discloses a golf club head and method of producing the same wherein the head is constructed of laminations or layers of resinous or plastic materials bonded together to form an integrated or composite head. This device employs a decorative effect through the use of resinous layers or laminations which have been pigmented with colorable flaky pigments such as pearl essence or metallic flake pigments which have a reflective three-dimensional effect. Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,350, Duclos discloses a golf club head which utilizes a decorative material such as polished brass as a cover within the striking face of the golf club head. This cover is simply placed upon the striking face and is not secured by epoxy or other type od adhesion material.
Other prior art devices reveal various designs of golf club heads. Many of these heads, such as those found in Des. 242,704, Des. 270,889, and Des. 279,557, depict a golf club head in an ornamental or decorative setting. However, none of these aforementioned prior art devices deal with the general idea of facilitating the placement of a photograph within the striking face of the golf club head which can be viewed through a layer of transparent epoxy which also serves to hold the photograph in a fixed position in the striking face of the head.
Further, a prior publication relates to "Replacing Old Inserts With Epoxy Cast-In-Place Inserts And Repairing Damaged Faces." This publication generally details a method of repairing the striking faces of the entire golf club to facilitate continued use of the club. In this method of construction the entire soleplate of the striking face is reinstalled into the club and secured with a high-impact strength epoxy so that the face of the club can withstand the force of striking a golfball. This type of epoxy insert also allows for the placement of a photograph in the striking face of the golf club head. However, this method is plagued with a series of major drawbacks. First, there is no safeguard in the method to prevent the photograph from moving or floating within the striking face of the golf club head. This failure to fix the placement of the photograph in the head can lead to reduce or inhibit the decorative effect of the head. Further, the method employs a cumbersome and confusing number of steps of construction. The entire soleplate must also be removed, replaced, and then reinstalled.
The present invention abrogates all of the drawbacks and flaws found in the prior art by employing a simple transparent epoxy application process which secures the photograph in a fixed position within the striking face. The present invention further provides two separate embodiments to secure the photograph in the striking face of the golf club head and thus prevent the photograph from floating or moving within the striking face. In the first embodiment a two-stage transparent epoxy application process is utilized wherein a first layer of epoxy is applied to the striking face of the head. While this first layer of epoxy is in a tacky state, a photograph is placed onto the layer of epoxy thereby securing the photograph in a fixed state. The second layer of transparent epoxy is then applied to encase and protect the photograph for viewing. In a second embodiment a two-sided adhesive tape is used to secure the photograph in a fixed position within the striking face of the head while a single layer of transparent epoxy is applied onto the photograph to encase and secure the photograph for viewing. Both of these embodiments yield fixed photograph placement and prevent the photograph from floating in the striking face and becoming misaligned or unviewable.